Opinion: Victories for the left

And some Republicans are gloating about it. Will they regret it? View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, May 16, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist Liberal candidates last night had their best primary night of the year. In yesterday’s newsletter, I mentioned three competitive races to choose a Democratic nominee for a congressional seat. Two of the three included decidedly centrist candidates — a district attorney in a blue-collar Pennsylvania district who had spoken positively about President Trump and a compromise-praising former congressman in Nebraska. Both lost. The contrast between candidates in Nebraska was especially stark. In the district that includes Omaha, the former congressman Brad Ashford lost to Kara Eastman — a progressive community organizer who received scant support from the Democratic establishment, as [Marie Solis of Newsweek reports](. Eastman supports Medicare-for-all as well as “universal background checks, overturning Citizens United, raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and decriminalizing marijuana,” [writes Vox’s Dylan Scott](. But this may be the most interesting dynamic: Some Republicans were openly rooting for Eastman, believing that she represents less of a threat. The seat is currently held by a Republican, Don Bacon, who’s running for re-election. Republican operatives inserted themselves in the primary campaign, referring to Ashford as “flip-flop Brad.” Last night, after the results were coming in, some Republicans were clearly pulling for Eastman and exulted when she won. “This is a nightmare” for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, [Jack Pandol of the National Republican Congressional Committee tweeted](. Of course, the Republicans may ultimately rue their glee. If Eastman and others like her can win, the Democratic Party will move to the left. [As I wro]( yesterday]( it’s still not clear in which circumstances moderate candidates are actually more electable than strongly liberal (or conservative) ones. Yet 2018 is going to offer a fascinating batch of evidence. In some competitive districts, the Democrats will have nominated proud progressives like Eastman. In others, they will have nominated moderates. Come November, it will be possible to compare the outcomes. Night of the woman. Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation currently includes zero women. “After last night there could be four Dem women from metro Philly alone,” [writes Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report]( [Garance Franke-Ruta of Yahoo News noted]( that their victories were, in an indirect way, Hillary Clinton’s “cracks in the glass ceiling.” Among the victories by women: "Sara Innamorato and Summer Lee, both members of Pittsburgh’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, have defeated Dom and Paul Costa, both incumbent state representatives, in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary,” [reports Mother Jones](. These are statehouse races, not congressional ones, but they’re still big wins for the Bernie Sanders wing of the party. The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including [former U.N. ambassador Samantha Power writing about a Syrian refugee she met in 2014](. 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